Troops among 12 beheaded by Mexican drug cartels

ACAPULCO, Mexico 
Authorities found the decapitated bodies of 12 men in the southern state of Guerrero yesterday, and some of the victims have been identified as soldiers.

State Public Safety Secretary Juan Salinas Altes said nine bodies were found on a major boulevard in the state capital, Chilpancingo, just a few hundred yards from where the state governor participated in a traditional religious procession later in the day amid heavy security.

Mexico has been hit by a rising wave of drug-fueled violence, and officials estimate that more than 5,300 people have died in organized crime-related slayings so far in 2008.

Mexican drug cartels have increasingly taken to beheading their victims, who include rival traffickers and lawmen.

Experts are still trying to identify the bodies found yesterday but a still-undetermined number of them are soldiers, Salinas Altes said. An army base is nearby. The bodies were found spread along the length of the boulevard, and nearby a sign was found that read, “For every one of mine that you kill, I will kill 10.”

Nine heads, some gagged with tape, were found in a bag nearby.

Local prosecutors said three more decapitated bodies were found yesterday in a village on the outskirts of Chilpancingo.

Scores of police and soldiers have been killed since President Felipe Calderón launched an offensive against the cartels in late 2006. While Mexican criminal gangs once appeared to avoid confrontations with the army, they now often openly attack soldiers.

Also yesterday, federal police reported they had captured three suspected cartel hit men in Tijuana. The suspects allegedly had six assault rifles and about 3,500 rounds of ammunition at the home where they were caught.

An unprecedented wave of violent turf battles between rival drug gangs in Tijuana have resulted in about 800 homicides this year, compared with 337 for all of 2007.